Pico-Hydro Power Plant

This paper describes the design and development of pico-hydro generation system using agricultural water .Water flowing in the agricultural pipes has kinetic energy that has the potential to generate electricity for energy storage purposes. The inherent water pressure and the flow inside the pipe which is used for usual activities is also used to rotate the small scale hydro turbine to drive a generator for electrical power generation. Hence, this project aims to develop a small scale hydro generation system using water (agricultural). The main principle is that water from the pipe is sent via nozzle to a turbine which is coupled to a generator which produces power.

A hydro-power plant plays a very important role in the development of the country as it provides power at the cheapest rate being the perpetual source of energy. Nearly 24% of the total world power is generated using hydro-plants. There are some fortunate countries in the world where 90% of the nation`s power requirement is met by hydro-power. There are few countries like Russia and Nepal where vast hydro resources are yet to be harnessed. As per the estimation of World Power Organization (WPO), the world hydro-potential is roughly 5000GW whereas only 200GW is presently developed (4% only).

The role of water in the task of nation-building needs no emphasis. The power developed by the water source in the world plays a very important role in the development of the world. The oceans of the world holds 317 million cubic miles of water which contains 97.2% of the total water exists on earth.